A Halloween Special: Slayers Silent
by Victorian R. Hellsly
Summary: In a small town called Quiet Cove, a young sorceress named Lina Inverse will discover truths that lurk just out of her reach, and experience horrors far beyond her wildest imaginations. Slayers/Silent Hill cross-over.
1. Chapter 1

A Halloween Special:

Slayers Silent

Chapter 1

Quiet

The trail before her had grown considerably darker. With forearms crossed over her head, she gazed up into the cloudy, overcast sky. The young woman, aged 20, brushed her wild crimson hair from her eyes and readjusted a black headband that drooped slightly unto the woman's sleek eyebrows. With a sigh she stopped her trek, and sat herself down against a large crooked oak tree that clung close to the dirt road. It was forest all around her, forest for the last eight days, with no signs of civilization besides a run down inn that harbored some of the creepiest people she'd ever met. That was almost a week ago.

Not even some bandits to rob, she thought to herself. She flicked a errant leaf off her arm, and with a groan, unclipped the fastens to her black, jeweled encrusted shoulder pads, and slide them off, setting the armor beside her. As she lay against the tree and played with the sleeves of her long, white gloves, she considered taking a bath, but then thought better of it.

She was alone, but she wasn't worried. For one thing, she knew she wasn't really alone. "I know you're out there, come out for once."

"Well well, the mighty Lina Inverse, the great slayer of monsters and dragons alike, asking for my company? Just what is the world coming to?" Said a voice that teased her, though in a friendly manner. Lina didn't bother looking in the direction of the voice, and instead opted to shut her eyes and lean her head against the tree's rough, charred trunk.

"At this point any company is better than none." With a yawn she placed her arms behind her head, trying not to let the silence of the forest setting unnerve. Usually there would be some noise, the chirping of crickets, the squeaks of some form of hungry bird, something, anything that said nature was taking it's course. Here of course, there was nothing. Not a howl of a wolf, or the chirps of a grasshopper. She'd only ever noticed anything like this in places of great magical struggle, like a particularly vicious demon battle.. This territory was unknown to her; after slaying the demon lord Shabranigdo for the second time she had decided to head deep into Outer World territory, where opportunity called, where magic was sparse, and where no one knew her as the Dragon Spooker. _I hate that name soo much,_ she said to herself, before a sudden wave of darkness seemed to cover her whole.

Without looking up, she groaned out in a mildly annoyed tone, "Get out of my light Xel." Squinting her eyes as she stared up at the violet-hair, staff carrying man that stood before her, she could see that perma-smile on his face and his practically closed shut eyes. _How do you see like that?_

Xellos stepped aside, letting the bright yellow rays that had broken through the cloud cover warm the resting woman. "My apologies Miss Lina, however, do give credit where it's due. I have been making my presence known much more often than originally, and if I remember correctly, much to your content."

Lina opened one eye, turning her head slightly to his direction, and gave him a sarcastic smirk. "It's only to my content to know where you are, Xel. Otherwise Gods only know where you'd be, and when you'd be watching my beautiful, lithe, womanly body in it's most vulnerable state." She winked, teasing the monster-in-disguise who only sent back a slight cringe.

"Lina," he cried out, "I hope you don't mean to say I'd ever take a advantage of you, I may be a Trickster Priest, but I'm surely no Lecherous Monk"

"No, that would be a different anime," replied Lina, rising up from her spot, her shoulder pads in hand, "but if it means all the same to you, I'm gonna need a bath. I'm filthy and I'd rather not meet up with Gourry smelling of dirty socks and rot. Not that he would really care... keep on the lookout for any perverts will ya? " Xellos nodded, watching the girl as she walked away toward the crystal clear lake located just shy of the dirt path. The young sorceress enjoyed his company, he knew, even if she tried to hide it with the occasional barb. He didn't mind it of course, Lina was truly the most interesting mortal he'd ever met, even if she had suffered much during the past year.

"And try not a take a peek, _Trickster Priest_," she suddenly spoke out as she trampled through the downhill underbrush, "otherwise I might have to Dragon Slave your ass back to whatever monster it is you worship." Of course she knew he wouldn't; whatever horrible things he was, the one thing he wasn't, was a pervert. Still, she'd much rather tease him whenever she could; he loved taking his shots in whenever he could, after all.

Placing her pads against her rock, and removing her boots, that uncomfortable tension that filled the air seemed to reverberate stronger than ever. The silence was unnerving, and not even the serene beauty of a lake shimmering with the sparkling distortions of the sun's rays seemed to make things any better. _It's just so damn quiet. What I would give to have Amelia here to talk to, or maybe a pervert, at least then I could make the guy scream or something. _Turning around, she saw no one. Xellos had disappeared somewhere, off being that sort of mixture of gentlemen and degenerate that only he could pull off. With Gourry up ahead in the nearest village, it was actually almost a comfort having the monster around. "Well almost."

Lina giggled, and placing her head band on the boulder alongside the rest of her clothes, she turned from tree to tree, taking in the entire view while the occasional cloud would manage to recapture the sun and drape everything with a sheen of darkness before passing by. She opted not to take longer than she needed to clean herself. Gourry would be up in the next village, and she wasn't interested in finding out what horrible thing dwelled or occurred in this terrible branch of road. _Leave that for someone else to deal with. _Sighing, she entered the warm lake water, and felt completely alone.

*************

"Come on, don't you tell me you didn't try to make a move on her." The air grew cooler and the sun grew dim, covered by clouds that were thick and crowded. Lina, with a finger poking the all powerful monster Xellos, gave him a wink while she asked her bawdy question.

Xellos for his part kept his smile, even if it did seem like a tinge of pink appeared to have colored his cheeks. "And you wonder why I hide in the shadows so much," he quipped back, while raising his pointer finger up in the air.

"Well I just figure, even a monster has to get lonely sometimes."

"And perhaps a certain sorceress as well?"

Lina looked away, without answering his question. Xellos didn't press the matter. "Good company can be hard to come by unfortunately, though as to whether I consider her good company or not, I'll have to confess that sometimes I do. After all she is sweet, if a little arrogant."

"I always thought you two would ma- Xellos?"

The monster had stopped in it's tracks, and now lagged behind several steps. "Xel?" she asked, puzzled by his sudden stop.

With that same smile on his face, he placed a hand behind his head and began to speak with a slightly embarrassed tone. "I apologize Miss Lina, but I have other arrangements to attend to. I believe the town of Quiet Cove is just ahead, so I will bid you a farewell for now."

"Wait," she spoke out, "mind telling me what those arrangements are?"

With a shake of his head he closed his eyes, "That, is a secret."

Lina looked on as he disappeared, leaving an empty space where he once stood. The winds, though light, caused her hair and cape to flutter gently while she stood. The clouds had blotted out the sun, though she couldn't remember where those clouds had come from, and the trees had begun to grow thicker and wilder, almost impenetrable, if not for the woodland dirt pass. Everything became grayer and less alive; and somehow she hadn't noticed the fog that had crept up and covered the lush green of the leaves with a muted monotone, and converted the healthy clear blues of the nearby lake into a murky black. And the noise...

Her hair got into her eyesight. She brushed her hair back, noticing that she herself had apparently dimmed as well; her bright red locks had seemed to grow slightly faded, along with the rest of her clothing. "I have too... go get Gourry..."

Lina, with a small smile on her face, continued to play with the locks of her hair, twirling the curls of her around her pointer finger absent mindedly, gazing dreamfully at the fog that obscured the road some distance ahead, with the sky and the land seemingly blending into one entity.

The sorceress awoke from her trance, and pressed her fingers to her cheek, catching something wet that streaked down her face.

"What is this?" she asked, staring down at her gloved fingers and the wet spots the liquid had formed on them. "Am I... crying?" She shook her head, wiping the rest of the fluid off her cheek, and continued forward. "I just need something to eat." _I'll just get something quick to eat before meeting up with Gourry, and then make him pay for another meal._ She smiled to herself, pushing away the unnerving emotions that had crypt up in her. _I just gotta remember to get outta here as soon as possible. Quiet Cove, what a fitting name._

From a distance and high in the air, the violet haired, staff wielding monster-in-disguise looked on at his red-headed companion. With eyes that were harsh and cruel, he sighed and turned away.

*************

Xellos was right of course, the town was not that far off, and within a few minutes Lina had made it to the end of the trail, where a checkpoint had been set up. It was strange, she had expected perhaps a small village or settlement, nothing too big, especially this far off from civilization, but it seemed this place was larger than she had anticipated. The checkpoint was a small watch tower some 3 stories tall and constructed of large interconnecting stone slabs that ended at the top with a large cone-shaped lime-green copper ceiling. The blocks were worn and crumbling and covered over by large swaths of ivy vine and weeds that grew uninterrupted. As she approached the tower, and with a slight apprehension, she walked toward the watchtower entrance, a large black space shaped like a doorway.

"Hello?" She asked, peeking her head in. There, in front of her, was a man in armor, seated in a old black chair. The man, with his back to her, wrote in a journal, and wrapped in the black shadows of the tower's windowless first floor, hid his body from her, along with his face.

"You may go." He blurted out, without raising his head or moving his gaze from the journal, nor ceasing his ministrations on his papers.

"Do I have to pay a toll or-"

"You may go."

Lina shrugged, taking one more glance at the back of the man's head before continuing past the watchtower and into the town proper.

The cobblestone streets echoed her every step, supplementing the sound for the entire town. The roads, wide, unusually expansive, and paved with gravel, were sparse of traffic. No carriages, no horses, no push carts or trolleys. Crossing one road and following the main road downtown, and passing by shops that lay devoid of customers and clear of shopkeepers, she continued walking forward, through a gray shroud that coated the entire town in a faint washed out hue. _Where is everyone? _She wondered. _Where's Gourry?_

The buildings, aside from the curious issue of vacancy, were typical town buildings, small cottages of timber and wattle, the larger buildings some two stories high and made of brick and stone. None of the buildings seemed in ill repair, or abandoned. At least not abandoned until recently.

Turning a corner on a road, a passed a wall with a chalk drawing of a white cat, she noticed a bright orange glow emitting from an inn a block away. The sign above it, with large decorative runes, identified the building as "Diner 52". _Finally, maybe I can get some answers. And a meal. _Taking a quickened pace past the lonesome and deserted streets, she looked from side to side, searching for anything else that might hint of life. Again there was nothing, except for the loud echo of her heels against cobblestone, and the ever thickening fog.

Opening the door to the inn, she walked in, her eyes adjusting to the now bright candle light that made her eyes water. It was an ordinary diner with nothing to distinguish it from any other she'd been in. Except that no one was there.

"Sorry miss, we're closed."

Lina turned around with a shock, staring at the first human being she'd seen since stepping into this horrible settlement. The woman, tall and angular, with dark short hair that ended at the shoulders, with eyes that were hidden behind the shadow of candle light, and dressed in a waitresses outfit, shocked her even more.

"Didn't you hear me? Hey, you OK there lady?"

Lina shook herself out from her surprise. "Yeah, I'm fine, sorry, it's that you remind me of someone I know..."

The other woman, with probing eyes Lina could still not see, turned away for a moment as she picked up her purse and blew out the candles, addressed her. "Like I said, shop's closed, so if you're hungry you'll have to come back tomorrow." As she covered herself with a long black overcoat, she continued speaking. "Now, if you're looking for an Inn to stay at, I got a place down the street."

Lina, with no other place to go, decided to follow the woman. "Actually, I'm looking for a man, really tall guy, blonde, wearing a lot of blue armor, going by the name of Gourry. Did anyone like that show up in town? Maybe ordered a room?"

The other woman, walking down a street which Lina didn't recognize, kept silent. _She looks so much like my sister... _She couldn't help but stare at the shop keeper. She was the same, right down to the ample breasts. Lina couldn't help but look down at her own, which, despite her age, weren't much bigger than when she had been a teen. There was a difference however, between the woman named Maria and her sister: the woman had one streak of red hair running down the side of her face. She hadn't seen it before, under the flickering lights of the candle lit diner, but now, she could see the red sheen it cast. "So what's your name? I'm Lina."

The other only turned her head slightly to meet her gaze. "My name is Maria. Pleasure to meet you."

Lina kept her distance, keeping a healthy pace behind this woman. "So Maria, what's up with this town?"

"What do you mean?" Maria, now at the professed inn, removed a lock pad, and opened a large metallic door, revealing a long staircase descending downwards into a black, indistinguishable hole.

"Hey, what's the big idea," cried out Lina. "That doesn't look like any Inn I-" The howling cry of an unknown source assaulted her ears. It was everywhere, coming from all sides, Lina turned her gaze up to the air, then toward the streets, and across anywhere she could. The low pitched whine steadily increased, louder and louder till Lina had to cover her ears to lessen the piercing throbs the noises caused her before it finally began to ease. "What is that!?" Screamed Lina, turning to Maria. She was nowhere to be seen. She was gone.

"Where did..."

Turning around, she gazed up a figure on top of a building several blocks away, with hands up in the air as it cast a spell. The flames burned around the tall female body, condensing as they twirled together into a ball of fire so hot she could feel it from that distance. She knew what the woman was summoning, she'd used it herself before.

"NO, STOP! DON'T CAST THAT!"

With her own arms outstretched, she prepared to cast her own spell and prevent The Dragon Slave from being unleashed on the town.

"FLARE ARROW!" She cried out.

Nothing happened.

"Wha...? Flare Arrow! Flare Arrow! FREEZE ARROW! ELMEKIA LANCE!!"

Lina stared at her hands, shaking in terror. _What's going on, why can't I cast anything?!_

She stared up again. It was too late to do anything. Lina ran full speed through the door as the fiery blast of the stranger's spell propelled her through the air. The explosion was deafening and the heat scorched her skin. She flew down the stairs before hitting the staircase with a heavy thud, the pain so terrible it caused her to scream. Flames snaked up her cape, threatening to devour her alive. Throwing off her shoulder pads with as much speed as she could muster, Lina tore the cape off her, and watched as the entire cloth was consumed by flame. She looked down at her left arm, which hung limply by her side. "Oh Gods..." With a loud shriek she set her dislocated arm back into place. She sat there, quivering. "What is going on here... what the Hell's happening? Oh Gourry, you sure picked the right spot to take a break..."

Pain shot up through her heart. "Oh Gourry, please be ok..."

Carefully rising up, holding her wounded arm, and trying her best to leave her cinched skin alone, she continued down the stairs. There was no where else to go, not while she was vulnerable, and not while whoever that person up top was continued to fire off Dragon Slaves. Step by step she descended the long flight of stars, down into a blackness untouched by light, and ignorant of flame.

**************

What felt like an eternity finally ended; collapsing onto the black floor a mere step after reaching the last stair, Lina closed her eyes, and rested. "I don't care if they shoot 50 Dragon Slaves at me, I need my beauty sleep." She chuckled, turning her body face down while she lay there, leaving alone the blisters and burns the fire had marked on her back, and stared up into blackness.

"Oh Lina, what did you get yourself into this time?" Her words reverberated against the walls, echoing and bouncing off into the endless black ether. The floor was damp and cool, slimy and awful to the touch, but she was too stricken with exhaustion and pain to get up. What was out there, this deep underground, she wasn't sure, but a sneaking suspicion told her it wasn't an Inn. She couldn't see anything, anywhere. If anyone was out there, she knew she was helpless. _I just, wanna rest... _Closing her tired eyes, she passed out.

When she woke she wasn't sure. That she could see light was a surprise, and what first caught her attention were the two small feet in front of her, adorned with a pair of shiny black shoes and legs covered by a dress of deep red. Lina looked up, and felt the warm glow of the white magic that this strange girl emitted. She couldn't see the girl's face, but only the faint outline of a her long blond hair, streaked with a line of ruby red hair.

Raising her head up, with the pain in her back gone, she got a better view of the girl. She was pale, and the darkness obscured her eyes. The young girl, no older than 8 or 9, let her hands continue to glow even as she stopped healing the sorceress. "Thank you," Lina started, smiling appreciatively.

The little girl giggled, and with a sudden brashness cried out. "Follow me!"

As the little girl ran, Lina got to her feet, surprised. "Wait, hold on!"

The little girl turned a corner, and as Lina turned the same corner, she cried out in pain, the sharp cold slice of hot pain shooting up her arm as a spear sliced her. She backed away, hitting a wall that stabbed her back with several small jagged metal spikes and blades. She cried out again, tearing herself off the wall right as another figure thrust it's spear at her. She looked up into the face of the two individuals that attacked her, and gasped.

The two individuals, now joined by a third, twisted and writhed in directions she didn't know a body could move. They were women, all identical in size and shape. They were wearing nothing more than strips of black leather that covered their arms, their genitals and barely contained their large, round bosoms. Their high heeled, black boots tapped loudly against the uneven metal grating. What caused her to gasp were their faces, at least where a face should have been; instead there was nothing, only a caved in skull surrounded by long, matted black hair that shone with a hint of violet from the from the little girl's light, who from at the end of the corridor, only stood watching, as if bored. Worst of all though, perhaps even worse than the long ice spears frozen to their right hands, were their gargled cackles, a mix of high and low pitches guttural cries.

One of the monsters slashed forward, jamming her ice spear into the mangled metal of the walls, just short of piercing Lina. The spear shattered, and as Lina jumped backwards and tripped against a metal spiked that unexpectedly shot up from underneath the floor, she looked up to see the ice spear regenerate, glowing anew with ice that steamed a white haze. Another monster thrust it's spear downward at her head and pinned Lina down by her hair as she barely managed to duck the ice weapon. Another spear came forward, and with a shriek, Lina tore herself away from her pinned strands, rolling away from the thrust of the second spear.

A fourth of the cackling creatures, taking Lina by surprise, flung the blunt end of her spear at her, knocking her to the ground. She looked up, and terrified, froze as the spear came down.

With eyes shut she waited for the impalement, and was surprised as the creature, sliced down the middle by a large clear blade that had shot out from the opposite wall, collapsed beside her. The creature's upper half writhed on the floor, and squealed out a horrible croaking groan as another blade shot out from the grated ceiling, and pierced the creature through the heart. Lina turned away, covering her mouth, trying to keep from vomiting, and ran past the dead creature while ducking a large serrated broad piece of metal that jutted out of the lower corner, almost puncturing her leg . The other monsters, not far behind, stopped in their tracks, and continued their horrid cackling.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" cried Lina as she approached the little girl. The girl watched with a confused look on her face, and with a wide smile, turned around, and continued her running. "Hey, WAIT!" Screamed Lina again, in a fury.

"Keep up!" Was all the girl uttered as she ran past another corridor, and disappeared from her sight. Lina, with blood seeping down her back, arm, and scalp, continued forward. The floors and walls of these corridors were a chaotic jumble of sharp edges and crumpled metal, of walls that would shoot outward so far that they almost closed off the passage, of porous floor panels that jutted upward or downward, and of which, despite their mangled appearance, glistened vibrantly, clean of debris, and reflecting any light that touched their surfaces. The uneven floors and the unpredictable protrusions of the walls made it difficult to run, which made it all the more amazing that the little girl could navigate the corridors so well, without a single injury to herself. "Come on!" Yelled the girl, waiting for Lina.

Ducking one beam, her eyes caught a glimpse of herself on a long metal shard that reflected as well as glass could. Gazing down from the patch of blood clotted scalp she saw the blood had pooled in the middle of her chest, a big red wet stain of dark crimson. Lina, touching the drenched cloth with her fingers, stared out blankly, and gasped. "No, no...." She turned away, closing her eyes. "Why won't you leave me alone?" She screamed, feeling a sharp scarred edge cut into her thigh. Lina jumped back, escaping the full brunt of the metal scrap as it slid up from the floor, her blood leaking down it's edge, the scrap ripping through the metal floor like... like...._ like a dagger through flesh..._

She finally reached the end of the corridor and entered a massive pitch black room, only to lose the girl again as she jumped off a ledge, and continued on, this time disappearing completely. This time however, there was an alternative light source, off into the distance. It was a speck of yellow and red flame. _It's either that or the girl, and I don't feel like being led around anymore. _She turned away from the ledge, and with a limp, continued, this time unmolested.

The complete lack of noise made her shudder, and despite the distant flame, everything was pitch black, covered in endless shadow, the clank of heel against metal, and the drip of blood the only perceptible noises within the incomprehensible room. She wasn't quite sure she was still even in an inside environment, she wasn't sure of anything anymore.

She reached a chain rope bridge that spanned the rest of the way, and below it, a giant expanse so wide and so deep it could very well have had no bottom. "Ray Wing!" cried out Lina. The echo went on into the void. Nothing happened. _Had to try._

As she stepped on the metal chains, and worked to balance herself, a strange shuffling noise came to her attention. _Something's, something's behind me. _Turning around, she saw a bright light flash, just a few feet from her location. Staring at the foreign illumination, she walked forward, and noticed a figure holding the light source, a familiar one.

"Zelgadis?" Asked Lina. The creature turned it's head up, staring up at Lina as it lay on the floor.

"Lina."

"Zelgadis, how did you get here, what happened, are you-" She suddenly stopped, taking a step back. The creature, whom looked like Zelgadis, nevertheless gazed blankly, and moved in wild, gesticulating fashions. As it rose up, she covered her mouth, and took several steps back.

"Lina" grunted Amelia, a violet-haired girl and her close friend. Only it wasn't her, it couldn't be. They were nude, the two of them, _and connected together at the waist._ Her skin, pale and bruised, was covered in a layer of blood and glistening sweat. She was the lower half, her legs turned outward, and her arms converted into a set of long misshapen stumps that stomped with every step. Her eyes were blank, and so were those of the Zelgadis half.

"Lina."

Turning around, she grabbed the chain, and ignoring the pain that radiated throughout her body, continued forward, struggling to keep her pace as the chains jumped with every one of her frantic motions. The monster stayed on it's side, and continued to cry out the sorceresses name.

Reaching the other side, she did not rest, and with a few more steps, came up toward the light source, a small flickering candle. Above it was a masked man, clad in blue armor, with long blond hair. He was tied up a ceremonial pillar, and in the chest of this man was a dagger.

"No... it's not him... no..." she whimpered.

"Try to remember Lina Inverse, try to remember the things you keep hidden away."

Maria stepped out from behind the pillar that held the dead man up. She took a few steps forward, glaring with cruel sharp red eyes that narrowed as she closed in.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Lina said, taking a few steps back, bumped against a metal wall, and was trapped by the woman, who with arms by either side of her, leaned in, their faces practically touching.

"Where's your dagger Lina?"

Lina opened her eyes wide, and shaking, turned away from the woman.

"Come on Lina, don't be that way," she said, whispering into the scared woman's ear. "Tell me if you remember this one.... 'No, please no, please don't, oh gods no, don't do this, stop, please stop, don't d-'"

"**SHUT UP!** WHO ARE YOU!?"

Grabbing Lina by the throat, Maria began to squeeze her air passage shut, grinning cruelly while Lina, with both her hands struggling to pull her off, began to gasp for air.

"Who am I? Look at me Lina, don't you recognize me? Who else would I be!"

Slugs, large, white and slimy, squirmed from behind Maria's back and slid down her arms, onto Lina's.

The sight of the fat, disgusting creatures pulsating and squishing across her flesh caused a renewed vigor in the woman, and she screamed in terror, her eyes tearing up as much from the creatures that slid across her bare arms as from the hands that struggled to crush her throat. Then she felt it, the stinging sensation of their wet fluids burning her flesh.

"**AAGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!"**

"Leave her alone!" cried out a small, angry voice. The little girl, with her hands aglow, pushed Maria, causing her to drop onto the metal grating. Lina, now free, slapped the slugs off her raw, burned skin and gasped out for air, struggling to scream as her flesh continued to sizzle.

Before she could recover, the same loud howl, or siren, from before, rang in her ears. She struggled to keep the noise out of her head, and with the glimpse of some new thing approaching, cried out in shock. A monster, tall and human shaped, wearing a large metal mask, and carrying a dirty, filthy, massive sword that he dragged behind him, appeared from the darkness. It's massive frame bobbed and heaved with each step, and with a sudden display of his power, rose the massive sword over his shoulder, and threw it straight at Lina. The blade punctured through the metal grating and sliced through Lina's hair, just inches shy of decapitating her. The sorceress, writhing violently, began to feel faint, and as her senses faded away, and with that terrible howl still in her head, the masked monster continued it's lumbering pace, with an arm outstretched, reaching out for her...

_**To Be Concluded.**_


	2. Shattered Memory

And so, without further ado, I present to you the second and last chapter to "A Halloween Special: Slayers Silent". Happy Halloween everyone, and may all your Halloweens be as frightening as a trip to Silent Hill on a chilly Fall night on the 31st of October.

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"No, stay back..." The young woman's arms were raised up in the air, attempting to block the masked monster as he rose his arm to it's fullest, and with a swipe of it's mighty bare arm, snapped the sorceress's arm by the elbow; the woman's limb hanging by skin as the tendons and bones broke and shattered under the immense force of the man's strength. She couldn't let out a howl, the motion had been too fast, and her throat refused to let out any more noise.

The monster continued it's assault, mounting his weight on the girl's stomach as it reclaimed his sword from the twisted metal surface that now squealed with the grinding of metal against metal. The air in her abdomen escaped her in a long forced exhale as the weight of the masked man crushed her organs and crippled her spine; the loud cracking of displaced vertebrae and the penetration of her pelvic bones through her flesh was audible in all it's agonizing pain.

The girl, with one good arm left, and with blood spurting out of her mouth, swung her fist at the monster, hitting him against his massive, armor-plated chest. Her punch did nothing to dissuade it. The monster, with it's one arm occupied, responded by taking the frail girlish limb into his own pale, enormous palm by the shoulder, and crushed it with a grip that clamped down like a vice and felt like granite grinding against unprotected flesh.

With a hard tug he pulled out her limb from her socket, snapping tendons and ligaments. She lost all feeling in her arm. Lina Inverse, with tears of red streaming out of her eyes and dark black blood vomiting out of her wide opened mouth, went limp, and could do nothing as he gave her arm another hard tug. The monster tore it off, leaving a bloody, gushing stump where bone and flesh should have been. It was like a toy, a lifeless thing that almost seemed a plaything in the man's massive hand. The sword was free from it's entrapment. The masked creature tossed aside the woman's limb, and raising the sword high above his metal mask, plunged the sword downward, into Lina's heart.

Slayers Silent

Chapter 2

Shattered Memory

"NO!!"

Lina screamed out in a horrible fright, her arms and legs waving at random as she trembled. She felt herself fall from an elevated space, and landed back-first unto a cold wooden floor. Her head bounced off the wooden planks, followed by her rear and writhing legs. Curling up into a fetal position, she clutched the back of her throbbing head and whimpered through chattering teeth.

Lina held this position for an unknown amount of time, biting down on the torn fabric of her blood stained sleeve and into her flesh till the pain registered to her shocked countenance.

Opening her eyes, she looked around the lantern lit room, noting it's beige curtains draped across two side-windows that took up the farthest side of the rectangular check-up office and observed the perfectly normal, regular stools placed in the opposite well, the dimly white cabinets that hung by the wooden door, and the gurney that lay in the middle. Turning from corner to corner, she watched, waiting for some sort of movement. None came.

"It was ... a dream," she said_. No, not all of it_, she uttered, this time to herself. She touched her arms, holding on to her shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze. _He... didn't take my arm.... _She noticed the bandages wrapped around her forearms. _Where, where the slugs... _Her stomach turned at the thought of those white slimy creatures on her skin, burning her with slime, or acid, or ... turning her head to the side she vomited, expelling whatever contents had remained undigested from her last meal.

_My Gods_, she uttered to herself, turning away from the spilled contents, and rising up from the floor, with a small limp, _this is not a great day for the beautiful, genius sorceress Lina Inverse._

Her back ached and was sore from the punishment it had received earlier, deep underground...

To the corner of the room there was a pail filled with cool, clean water. Rinsing her mouth of the awful taste of stomach acids and whatever it was she had eaten the previous day, she continued to inspect herself, using a mirror attached to wall, noting the bandages covering the cuts and bruises she had accumulated, and shuddering at the memory of the masked man, who had come so close to killing her, and yet had somehow failed. Someone had taken the time to clean and wrap her wounds, and cut away the more tattered parts of her clothing. Worst of all she had lost several articles of clothing. Her cape was gone, burnt away in the fire, and she had left behind her shoulder pads in that dark staircase. One leg of her pants had been cut away, up to her lower thigh, where the shard had stabbed her, and which now was also bandaged over, and where the red of her blood seemed to have seeped through, if just slightly. Her upper body was without covering, save for the medical wrappings that had haphazardly been applied and clung around her entire chest and back, covering the wounds inflicted there, along with her more personal female anatomy.

Unfortunately this left a sickening feeling deep inside her gut. _Who had full access to my body? _She wondered, placing her back against the wall as she struggled not to vomit again. Strange monsters impersonating her friends, dark underground labyrinths, her sister, who wasn't her sister, unaccounted for black-outs, and strange little girls... _What is this place?_

Gazing back at the mirror, she noticed a piece of parchment placed just underneath her headband, and near more bandaging, these covering the patches of sore, hairless scalp. Pulling the small, worn parchment from her band, she read the poorly written message held within.

**liked playng DOCTOR. how do u get in tu so much truble? com tu dah town sqware. don t get hurt thoh! Lov LAURA**

"The little girl?" Lina looked at the bandages covering her arms. _Could she really have done this? _"So that's the second time she's saved my life." Lina placed the paper in her pocket, and testing her leg, decided to head to the center of town. What else was she supposed to do? After all, she still had to search for Gourry, and at the very least Laura hadn't tried to kill her, at least not intentionally... On the gurney lay her bloodied shirt and her magic amplifiers. _I'd rather wear them than trounce around half naked._

There was nothing in the room that would be of any use. No weapons of any type, just gauze and wrappings. Turning to the door she observed a strange magical symbol, a red circle surrounding another slightly smaller circle, surrounding three even smaller circles, and between the first and second circles, a strange set of symbols that Lina could not decipher. Placing her hand against the wooden door, she hesitated for a moment. _No, I can't stay here forever._

With a push of the door, she waited for something, anything to happen, to attack her, or... anything. The door, opening with a loud creaked amplified by the stark silence of it's surroundings, only left her with an unshakable feeling of dread that pricked at the back of her neck. It appeared to be safe, at the very least, to leave the room. Her mouth snapped shut, and while breathing a sigh of cautious relief, further pushed the door open, and wondered what lay outside for her.

Lina's eyes turned to the strange emblem placed on the door. It began to fade, and then with a bright blast of red light that momentarily blinded her, disappeared. A burning heat suddenly hit the wood that she still placed her hand on, and as suddenly as the emblem vanished, the door shattered and burst into flames.

With a loud scream she averted her gaze, covering her face with both arms as she ran past the ignited wooden shards. She could feel the burning embers brush past her exposed flesh, the smouldering touch of burning wood against her scalp, and the seething flame that had caught her gloved hand by surprise, and which now ached with the sensation of fire against female flesh.

Lina, screaming still, removed the burning fabric from her fingers and palm, and running dazed into a thick fog of blood-red fog flickering with the flames that consumed the building, she turned around to watch her temporary sanctuary swallowed whole by the ravaging light.

Turning to her burnt hand, Lina took a roll of bandages from her pocket, and began to wrap the pink, sore fingers of her left hand._ I have to try... _She placed her right hand around her bandaged limb, and tried to entice her magic to heal her. There was nothing.

Sighing, she walked away from the two-story, wooden burning building, even as it's flames seemed to reach as high up as the heavens themselves. It was night and moonless; the fire was the only source of light available. Ahead of her there was the fog, that thick misty redness that continued to flicker in the reflective light of flame, brighter now then before. What lay beyond, as far as the fog would allow her to see, was the charred husks of long burned and obliterated houses and shops, and cobblestone floors smoothed over or torn away, leaving behind impassable roads, or barriers built of wrecked debris.

The Dragon Slave, then, had done it's job, and whoever had cast it, though at that point Lina had a pretty good idea of who had, was probably pleased with the destruction it had left behind. Lina shook her head. She had to get to the center of town, wherever that was, and she had to find Gourry and Laura. The town, and whoever occupied it, couldn't be her concern, not until she could cast magic again, and not until she knew that Gourry was alright. With a small limp and a wounded hand, with bandages covering cut after cut, with no access to her powers or a weapon, vulnerable, alone, and afraid, she stepped into the fog, into the unknown.

*************

Locating the center of town was proving to be harder to figure out then previously thought. She was lost, wondering through burnt ruins for the last half hour or so, through fog that now grew pale as she ventured further away from the flames. At least, she thought she was. The town was as empty as it had seemingly been before, with not a hint of a living creature, human or otherwise. Traveling down destroyed streets, and climbing over the debris that blocked the pathways, she found nothing that could be considered the town square. If the town square was discernible at all. _For all I know, I probably already passed it, twice._

She stared up at the skyline. Not a single building seemed to be standing, none at all. Everywhere she went they were just shells of black wood and incinerated brick. Some of the structures, apparently ones once supported by a metal frame, stood with their steel and iron beams jutting out into the night sky, as if to pierce the heavens in the facsimile of a clawed, twisted hand.

_Sliissshhhh_

"Who's there?" Lina cried. She shut her mouth, shocked at her own stupidity. _Who's there? You idiot, it's probably a monster!_

_Sliissshhhh_

There it was again, that strange sliding sound, like stone scraping against metal, but with a strange, liquid inflection. Lina looked around her, trying to figure out the direction of the noise, along with searching for anything she could use as a weapon.

_Slisshhh_

It was coming closer, she knew. The noise grew louder, and with a quicker pace. Lina could see it's silhouette through the fog covering, a strange limping human shaped thing. She wasn't sure it was actually human yet.

"Hey, stay back," Lina cried, taking several steps in reverse even as it advanced in her direction, "I'm a sorceress, don't make me angry. Come on, say something or I'll... I'll..."

The creature let out a low, forced groan. Now closer, she could see it's right leg, a sharp metal prosthetic that grinded against the street as the man used his other leg to push him forward. His clothes were burnt, seared unto his skin, and the unclothed flesh was either a charred black or a shiny, bleeding red. The arms were twisted and charred to the bone, it's fingers long gone in one hand, and in the other, a blackened dagger was clung tightly too. It's face was familiar, it was that of a bandit she had killed not too long ago, only his face now featured no eyes, and it's scalp was absent of skin.

"Oh Gods." Lina, too shocked by the sight, stood there, frozen once more in her place. The dead bandit, now close enough for Lina to smell the rot of it's corpse, swiped it's dagger at her. She awoke from her trance just in time, dodging the blade, but tripping on a piles of debris, causing her to fall with a loud groan. She looked up at the undead Bandit above her, as it rose it's sword/leg up in the air, and prepared to strike down. There was something metal within her grasp, a cylindrical, rusted item. Lina swung the object with all her might, breaking the Bandit's scorched appendage, and as it dropped to the floor, she swung the steel pipe once more, breaking the Bandit's jaw. He squirmed spastically on the ground, growling absent-mindedly. With another swing of the pipe it's face caved in, and with one last swung, and with an exasperated cry from Lina, it died.

"And stay dead."

She got up, panting, listening to the moans of more creatures in the distance, closing in. Walking had not been an issue with her wounded thigh, but now, as she tried a quicker pace, the pain became brutal, and leaning against a brick wall, she knew she had to find shelter, of any type. In the fog she could see two, and then three outlines. They were of the same stumbling, writhing creature, with the same prolonged, guttural groans.

She continued down an alley, passing a wall with a drawing of a large, white cat, and down that avenue, she noticed just past the fog, a building, still erect, and still for the most part in once piece. She picked up her pace, ignoring the agony of her thigh's bleeding, throbbing gash. Just at the exist of the alley she saw another of the undead bandits, this one knelled over, brutalizing a small, screaming boy.

"No!" Lina cried, swinging the bloodied pipe against the back of the bandit's head, smashing it's skull in as it collapsed onto the floor, shrieking with every whack to it's head, till it finally stopped moving.

Lina turned to the boy, who remained silent and lying on the ground, as if dead. She knelled down, checking his pulse. Lina closed her eyes. "Sorry kid."

Turning away, she rose herself up.

"ARGGHH!"

Lina cried out as the dead boy held her, it's unaccountably strong grip biting into her bandaged hand. Her pinky finger snapped under the strain. "Get off me!"

She swung the pipe against the side of the child's head, causing the child to release his grip. The child turned to Lina, crying out in a mournful wail, with tears in it's unnaturally large, sad eyes. His entire nude body was black with burnt flesh with a missing arm, and as Lina watched it's unburned, bruised face sob, it swung it's claw into the flesh of her wounded thigh, cutting deeply and horribly.

Lina let out a terrible howl, swinging the pipe against the boy's face once more. It did not lose it's grip on her. The pipe smashed against his eye, a third swing shattered his nose on contact with the blunt instrument. She kept her assault, crying out as she did, till it's small frame lay limp.

_That wasn't a child, __**that wasn't**__ a child._

Using the pipe as a crutch, she continued forward in a daze, shocked at the deed she had just committed, and struggling all the while, to rationalize the truth to herself. It was in her fortune however, that nothing lay between her and the building, else, it would have been her end.

Locking the door behind her, she barricaded the door with a table, and collapsing unto the floor, she sobbed till her tears ran dry.

***********

"It knows my weaknesses, my fears." The alcohol she procured from the Inn's checkout counter stung fiercely on the open wounds, and on her tongue. At the very least, it gave her something else to concentrate on. It was quiet again, the monsters had thankfully not followed her. Snapping her finger back in place had almost made her faint, and combined with applying the new bandages to her thigh, she wondered how much longer she could withstand the terrible onslaught. _At this rate, I'll be lucky to survive the rest of the night, let alone out of this nightmare. _Her only consolation was that she understood now, in some way, what was happening.

Taking Laura's note out of her pocket, she inspected it, and the two little happy face doodles at the corner, one of the blonde haired Laura, and the other of Lina, with a big, black headband across the forehead. _Are you real?_ She wondered. _Are you one of those things? Just here to make me suffer? _The real question was, why?

A noise caught her attention. Something was up there, on the second floor. It was the giggling of a little girl. _Laura?_

Pitch blackness surrounded every crevice of the derelict Inn. The check-in had a small kerosene lantern. Walking up the staircase, she winced with every step that forced weight on her injured leg. The steps creaked loudly with an eerie foreboding, the walls that surrounded her seemed to contract and relax, or breath, or throb, but perhaps it was only her imagination run wild. The way above her led in two directions; one to her left, and one to her right. It was a perfect place for an ambush, though she wasn't sure if these things were capable of such an action. Eitherway, the flame would obviously would've alerted them by now.

Rushing in, to the left, she swung the pipe through thin air, hitting nothing. She encountered a set of steel bars blocking the last three rooms, but other than that, nothing. Turning around, she saw three figures ahead of ahead of her: two strange, abnormal figures, and one blonde haired little girl, donning a bright red dress, playing hop scotch.

"Laura!"

What Laura did next Lina could not detail, as the other immobile, strange beings came to life and took her attention. The lantern's light reflected a glittering mess of mirrors and flesh. The beings took their steps with grace and pride, their bodies upright with a female form and flawless of unnecessary motions. They step forward, toward her, with glittering glass fingers pointing elegantly at her. From the lantern's light she could discern her own reflection off the two monster's body. She was in her full attire, clean of any wounds, and standing upright with a hand to her hip with a big bright smile behind a bright clean Inn as the backdrop. Just before the monsters swung their sharp edged fingers at her, she saw the reflection wink.

Both monsters missed her, and Lina, sliding across the floor between the two monsters, slammed the pipe against the closest monster's knee, shattering the joint. The monster screamed out in a loud, female voice. One that sounded just like her own.

Rising from the floor, she finished off the monster with a bash across the long smooth mirror that served as it's face. She could see her reflection on the collapsed creature's mirrored back, the reflection harboring a big red blotch where here knee was, and the once bright happy face covered in blood and her mouth open wide and howling, though no sound came out.

Lina took a few steps back and prepared for the other glass monster to attack. Instead it dropped to floor, and holding the dead creature in it's arms, bobbed it's frame up and down, as if to sob in silence.

_If it's not going to attack, then I'm letting it be. _With the lantern by her side, and the pipe still head up, she continued to the right, past iron frames that denied her entrance to the other rooms, except for one.

Laura was no where inside, but she hadn't escaped down the stairs. _She has to be in there. _The door was locked, and placing the lantern by the door, she noticed an inscription, and 3 empty slots, shaped like crests:

_Elements of Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, drawn to strength and hosts within. Yield to the spirits and that without._

_Outer Sights of chaos and black of world, destruction lies and cruelty adorned. Burn to the vicious and witness the End._

_Gods of Light and holy of Truth, seek the scales that bring forth the answer._

"A... riddle?"

Lina contemplated the door before for a moment. It seemed she would have to collect 3 crest shaped items, and attach them to the inscription plate. She took a moment to consider what was being asked of her, and glimpsing the sobbing monster to the opposite end of the hall, far from attacking her, she figured out a pretty simple solution.

The locked pad gave way to a blow from a furious Lina and her steel pipe. "Riddles at a time like this, who the Hell set up this crazy place anyway?"

"Laura!" she cried out. The little girl, who was busy drawing a white cat on the largest space of wall available, jumped up and ran towards Lina.

"Hey, you're taking forever! I thought I said get to the town square! The mean lady is waiting for you there."

"The mean lady? Lina asked. "You mean, Maria?"

Laura nodded, taking several more steps toward the sorceress. "How did you get hurt again? Aughh! I told you not too! I bandaged you up and everything!"

"About that," Lina began, squatting down to the girl's level, looking into her wide, happy scarlet eyes for the very first time, "bandages are nice and all, but how about you cast a nice recovery spell on me, just for old times sake?"

The faint glow of the girls arms warmed Lina to the bone. The pain was gone, and while her body was weak, it no longer verged on collapse. The young girl, who huffed at the healing request, took Lina by the arm and began to lead her back into the hallway. "Come on, we have to go to the town square, I'll show you where!"

They passed the glass creatures, and as they went down the staircase, Lina questioned the little girl. "Can't you see them?" she asked.

"See what?"

"The monsters, like the one we just passed, up by the stairs?"

Laura gave Lina a confused, patronizing look. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Through the derelict buildings and ash-thick fog the two traveled, and Lina, unwrapping her now healthy, restored digits, braced herself for the upcoming confrontation. She hoped for a resolution to the nightmare that plagued her very mind. Gripping the pipe with her right hand, she gave it a twirl, and with her eyes on the little girl to the front of her, continued on to her destination.

*************

"Lina, it's good to see you again," said Maria with dark, glaring sarcastic red eyes. She was the same as before, with her clean black waitress outfit and short black hair, with it's lone lock of red, and in direct contrast to Lina, was without a single thread out of place. The square was vacant of anything but random polls jutting out of the stone floors, and blocks of stone positioned randomly with no obvious purpose. They were completely surrounded by the fog.

"And here was I hoping that big guy got to you first." Lina responded. Laura, in her impulsiveness, walked off, skipping away to the step of some unknown beat.

"Isn't she so wonderful?" Maria began, "so very innocent, so very pure, without a care in the world. So _naive,_ and without a single thought of suffering to ruin it, or haven't you noticed?"

They circled each other, both keeping their distance. "Where's Gourry?" said the impatient, tired sorceress. Maria, laughed, brushing back a single strand of hair from her eye-line.

"The sad thing is, you're too much like her, running away from the ugliness of the world. You, however, don't have an excuse, you aren't a brash teenager anymore, and you aren't the little girl I had to punish for being a little snot."

"Shut up!" Cried Lina, raising the pipe.

The black haired woman ignored her cry. "You were always_ so_ mischievous. Remember that time you showed the village my nude image in the shower? I was so furious, the things I did to you as payback. Oh, though sometimes I wonder if I went too far."

"You're not my sister."

"I don't know if it was because it was more traumatic or not, hmm, though, you'd think a Dragon Slave would be more painful then a handful of slugs."

"So you did cast that Dragon Slave."

Maria smiled, letting her eyes narrow before she continued. "You're a few steps behind Lina. Catch up, you're brighter than this." She took a few steps forward, her figure formidable and intimidating. Lina wavered, the image of a ruby-eyed Luna look-alike encroaching, stalking her steps shook the sorceress's confidence.

"Stay back!"

"Sister, you can't run away anymore, not from what you know in your mind and in your heart. That's why we're here, in Silent Hill- but it's not called that here is it? No, here it's Quiet Cove. It's still very fitting."

A horrible screech began to sound, like the scrape of metal against stone.

"He's coming Lina, and he's coming to kill you. He'll be after me next, you know."

Lina turned around, gazing out into the distance. There it was, the masked man, a good 7 feet tall, clad in worn armor, with that dirty, rusted sword that howled it's metallic whine as it was dragged behind it's wielder. In that instant, Maria pulled out a dagger, and taking the pipe out of Lina's grasp, swiped the blade at her chest, cutting a painful, shallow gash from the top of her shoulder to the end of her rib cage. Crying out, Lina clung to her wound, and jumped back as Maria swung again, this time downward, barely missing the sorceress's forehead and foot.

Lina kicked the woman in the face, Maria grunted out a faint gasp, but quickly recovered and lunged at her Lina, knocking her to the ground.

As they fought the masked man came closer, passing two bandit monsters that wondered aimlessly. He rose the gigantic sword and sliced the two creatures in half, their body parts flying in up into the air at a tilt. "We have to stop that thing," grunted out Lina. Maria, now on top of her opponent, had the dagger pointed just above the other woman's chest. The only thing that prevented the weapon's penetration were Lina's arms. They held on to Maria's grip, desperately trying to keep the weapon at bay even as fatigue and Maria's superior strength forced the weapon lower, agonizing inch by agonizing inch.

"You don't...", started Maria, grunting under the strain, "fucking get it.... you stupid..."

Lina screamed. The weapon scraped against her chest, cutting through her bloodied clothing, and ripping through the bandages and wrappings that once encased her former wounds. She gasped with the feel of bone being cut. _No, there's got to be something, anything, I can't-_

Something glimmering with red caught the corner of her eye. Pushing with all her strength, she reached toward the item, and slammed the metal shaft of the pipe against her attacker's face.

Maria burst out a loud, angry yelp. Her grip gave way, the knife suspended momentarily in Lina's chest. Lina clutched the weapon. She pounced on the dazed woman, and plunged the dagger into the Maria's heart, ramming her body against a poll.

Maria, gazing at the sorceress with wide, bewildered eyes, lay limp, gasping with dying lungs and tears that flowed from her scared, scarlet eyes.

_The dagger_... Lina thought to herself. Something from the edges of her consciousness, trapped behind a curtain of fear and denial, began to reveal itself.

The masked man was right next to her, his weapon once again posed to strike. Turning to face him, Lina let the images of a memory break free from their shackles. Maria, with blood red tears now leaking from her eyes, stared at up at the sorceress's back, at her disheveled, torn hair and ragged clothing, and smiled.

The sorceress looked up at her friend.

"Gourry."

The masked man, with his sword in the air, slowly lowered the weapon to his side, and knelt down. Lina held onto both sides of the mask, running her fingers through it's grated, metal contours, until she found the clasps, and flicked them open.

Behind the mask was a familiar face, one with blue eyes and long blond hair.

"I'm so sorry," said Lina, holding the man, now at his normal, human height and free of armor, in her arms as he did in his. She shed long repressed, sorrowful tears. Gourry, silent and smiling, wiped the tears from her cheeks, and stroked her hair with a gentle hand. She sniffled, burying her head into Gourry's shirt, letting his fingers run across her cheek.

She continued to shed her tears, until finally he nudged her chin up with his thumb and pointer. They gazed into each other's eyes, and with a hint of lament, he began to turn away.

"Wait, I love you. I should've told you a long time ago, I really should have. Can't we be together, Maybe if I-"

Her lover placed a finger on her lips, silencing her. He shook his head, and closed his eyes. He leaned forward, and swept up into his arms, she did as well. Their lips embraced, together, in a Heaven away from the Hell around them. When his lips broke their embrace, she opened her eyes.

He was gone.

"Goodbye Gourry."

She turned back to Maria, who was no longer Maria, nor Luna. Lina gazed at the scarlet-haired, scarlet-eyed woman under her, who donned a lush indigo cape, vibrant red clothing, and a pair of black, jeweled shoulder pads. Lina slowly edged the weapon out of her double's chest.

She winked at Lina, and then vanished behind a veil of fog.

"Laura?"

"Yes!" cried out the wild girl, impervious to any of the events that had just occurred.

"Come on, we're leaving."

Taking the young girl by the hand, they walked their way out of the town. The fog had lifted, the sun now rose from the horizon, and the town, though still grey, was restored to it's former self, empty of destruction or monsters, or of the hidden memories that suffered themselves to burden Lina's mind.

It was at the old watchtower that Lina paused, and peering back into black recesses of the building, found the man, sitting in his old black chair, writing tirelessly in his journal. He spoke.

"You may go."

She wondered for a moment if she should further investigate, but tired, hungry, and emotionally drained, thought better of it. Once she crossed the checkpoint, she felt Laura's hand leave hers. Turning around, she saw no one. Laura was gone.

*****************

"I killed him Xellos."

The Trickster Priest, materializing behind her, just outside the town watchtower, listened in, already aware of the events she spoke of.

"It was a year ago today. We, Gourry and I, I mean, were on the trail of these bandits, some real tough guys." She sniffled softly, wiping a tear away. "I thought it would be funny if he infiltrated the group. They wore masks, so Gourry has to wear this silly metal mask thing, and when it came time to take them out, in the heat of battle I... accidentally stabbed him in the chest." _'No, please no, please don't, oh Gods no, don't do this, stop, please stop, don't die...' Those were the last words I spoke to him, before he died._

"So I repressed it. I did such a good job of it that I completely forgot he really did die. I just kept pretending he was still alive, just ahead of me, in the nearest town or city." She paused for a moment, casting a recovery spell on her wounded chest.

"Xel, what was that place?"

Xellos shook his head. "Some places are beyond explanation. What it is no one really knows. It's protected by an unpenetratable barrier blocking all forms of magic, and it rarely stays in the same place for very long. All Monsters that stray in never come out, and most humans share the same fate. From the information gathered from those that do return, it's been deduced that the entity serves to pull the unconscious of it's subject out into a sort of reality."

"And you thought that luring me into that Hell-hole would shake me out of my delusions?" Lina asked.

"I figured it was worth an attempt."

Lina pondered Xellos' actions for a moment. "In a terrible, horrible, unbelievably irresponsible way, that's the nicest thing you've ever done for me."

"Well Miss Lina, I do-"

Xellos was suddenly silenced with Lina's spell casting.

"Sword of darkness of the four worlds, I call upon you,

grant me the power that you possess."

"Lina?" Xellos asked, "what do you think-"

"Lord of the Dreams that Terrify,

Sword of Cold and Darkness, free yourself from the heaven's bonds,

Become one with my power, one with my body

And let us walk the path of destruction together!

Power that can smash even the souls of Gods,"

"**RAGNA BLADE!!"**

The power of the Ragna Blade burst worth into Lina's grasp. With a swing of the sword, Lina split the barrier that protected the town's dark energies. The black sword dissipated, and Lina, not finished yet, began her second incantation:

"Darkness beyond twilight

Crimson beyond blood that flows

Buried in the stream of time is where your power grows

I pledge myself to conquer all the fools who stand

before the mighty gift bestowed in my unworthy hands

Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed

by the power you and I possess..."

"**DRAGONN SLAVEEEEE!!"**

The fiery power of the Dragon Slave was launched through the hole in the barrier, vaporizing the nightmarish town of Quiet Cove, or Silent Hill, or whatever, leaving behind a crater as wide as the town once was itself. "And try fixing yourself after that one! That'll teach ya a lesson, don't mess with LINA INVERSE!"

Pointing her finger at the now terrified Xellos, she refused to relinquish her wrath. "And you, you owe me a new outfit, armor, cape and breakfast lunch and dinner!! Look at me! I'm in rags, this is no way for a great sorceress to be running around! I have blood everywhere! I'M STARVING! You'll be paying for this for a very long time Xellos!"

On that morning, Xellos learned the true face of horror, of terror fully realized and darkness as black as an empty stomach. And that terror's name was Lina Inverse.

**THE END**


End file.
